Dan spent the past 2 Saturdays building a fence for our backyard. Last Saturday, July 7th, he and his friend Aaron dug all the holes and concreted in the posts. This past Saturday, Dan was able to recruite several more friends from church to help- Todd, Jeremiah, Brian, Aaron, and also both our dads. They were able to get all the crossbeams and pickets hung. Then Sunday, Dan's brother Chris came over to help build and install the gates. We'll hopefully have some pictures to post soon.
Also last Saturday, my sister Jessica threw a really fun and intimate baby shower with some of my closest friends. Thank you Jess for your hospitality and creativity with the great food and fun games. Everyone especially seemed to enjoy the "Nursery Rhyme Charades"! Also thanks for not playing the "toilet paper to measure the mom's belly" game. :-) Dan and I got so many great gifts at this shower - many much needed items like diapers, wipes, toys, dolls, and bath items. Ethan is one blessed little boy! Now if we can just keep our dog from adopting all Ethan's toys as her own, we'll be set!
Tomorrow we go back to UNC Hospital for our weekly checkup and monitoring of the amniotic fluid. Please pray that the fluid levels have not dropped too low so that Ethan doesn't have to be delivered too early. We want him to be born as full term as possible so his lungs will be well developed. We'll let you know how the appointment goes and what the doctor plans to do if the fluid levels are low.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Week 35 - UNC check-up
Today we visited UNC for an ultrasound, our 35 week check-up, and another tour of Labor & Delivery (L&D), Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) with our care coordinator. Dan and I took the tour back in March when Ethan was first diagnosed with his heart defect and we learned we'd have to deliver at UNC, but my mom was with us so it was good for her to get to know the area with us.
Everything looked normal on the ultrasound - Ethan's not showing any other defects or problems besides his heart at this time. He's already 6lb. 1oz. and in the 53rd percentile, and we still have a month to go! From here on out, we'll be traveling to UNC once a week for check-ups. The amniotic fluid is borderline on the low side so at next week's check-up, I'll also have another ultrasound to monitor the fluid level again. If it looks alright, then I won't have any more ultrasounds; but if it's looking low, they will probably monitor me weekly with an ultrasound while I'm there for my weekly check-up.
After the ultrasound, we went for our check-up, where I learned I tested positive at the last visit for Group B Strep (which they say is common in about 30% of all pregnancies), so I'll be given an antibiotic in my IV when I go into labor. And speaking of labor, Dr. Boggess has me scheduled to arrive at UNC on Thursday night, August 9th and I'll stay overnight and get induced on Friday, August 10th (if I haven't already gone into labor before then!). So one month from today, we may quite possibly be meeting our sweet little boy as he enters the world!
Once we finished with the weekly check-up, we met up with our care coordinator, Lisa. She guided us through our tour of L&D, NICU and PICU. We learned that in the NICU and PICU, parents and grandparents have 24 hr. access to Ethan, but only 2 people are allowed in his room at one time. We also learned that we are allowed to sit in on the weekly team conferences that take place every Monday afternoon. The team consists of all medical team people that will be dealing with Ethan's case, including our care coordinator. The team discusses all the current patients, so for confidentiality sake, we will only be sitting in on the part of the meeting relating directly to Ethan's status. Doctors also make daily rounds in the NICU and PICU so we can get updates at that time as well. Also, the NICU has an 800 number to call and speak to Ethan's nurse on duty at any time of day or night to get an update if we're not able to be with him! I feel like we're definitely in the right place for our son's treatment.
Thanks for the continued prayers for our son and for us. We can definitely feel the love and encouragement and support of all our friends and family!
Everything looked normal on the ultrasound - Ethan's not showing any other defects or problems besides his heart at this time. He's already 6lb. 1oz. and in the 53rd percentile, and we still have a month to go! From here on out, we'll be traveling to UNC once a week for check-ups. The amniotic fluid is borderline on the low side so at next week's check-up, I'll also have another ultrasound to monitor the fluid level again. If it looks alright, then I won't have any more ultrasounds; but if it's looking low, they will probably monitor me weekly with an ultrasound while I'm there for my weekly check-up.
After the ultrasound, we went for our check-up, where I learned I tested positive at the last visit for Group B Strep (which they say is common in about 30% of all pregnancies), so I'll be given an antibiotic in my IV when I go into labor. And speaking of labor, Dr. Boggess has me scheduled to arrive at UNC on Thursday night, August 9th and I'll stay overnight and get induced on Friday, August 10th (if I haven't already gone into labor before then!). So one month from today, we may quite possibly be meeting our sweet little boy as he enters the world!
Once we finished with the weekly check-up, we met up with our care coordinator, Lisa. She guided us through our tour of L&D, NICU and PICU. We learned that in the NICU and PICU, parents and grandparents have 24 hr. access to Ethan, but only 2 people are allowed in his room at one time. We also learned that we are allowed to sit in on the weekly team conferences that take place every Monday afternoon. The team consists of all medical team people that will be dealing with Ethan's case, including our care coordinator. The team discusses all the current patients, so for confidentiality sake, we will only be sitting in on the part of the meeting relating directly to Ethan's status. Doctors also make daily rounds in the NICU and PICU so we can get updates at that time as well. Also, the NICU has an 800 number to call and speak to Ethan's nurse on duty at any time of day or night to get an update if we're not able to be with him! I feel like we're definitely in the right place for our son's treatment.
Thanks for the continued prayers for our son and for us. We can definitely feel the love and encouragement and support of all our friends and family!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Happy July 4th!
Yesterday was a busy day, helping my parents get moved and settled into their temporary housing at our house. So far, Emma (their cat) and Gray-C (our dog) are getting along pretty well. When Gray-C gets too close to Emma, Emma will hiss at her and she backs away. We have a baby gate set up at the top of our stairs to separate the two girls - Emma stays upstairs and Gray-C stays downstairs, but likes to come to the top and stick her nose through the gate to check on Emma.
We're excited about this transition with mom and dad living with us - especially since mom has volunteered to help with the cooking! Also, it will be nice to have them around after Ethan's born. They'll be able to stay at the house and take care of it and the dog while we're staying in Chapel Hill (an hour away) with Ethan since he'll be hospitalized for at least a month after he's born, recovering from his first heart surgery.
Our next visit to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill is scheduled for Tuesday, July 10th. We'll be going for one final ultrasound, a regular check-up, and another tour of NICU and PICU. We're looking forward to get to see one more glimpse of our son before we meet him next month! We're praying he'll cooperate this time and not be so camera-shy so we can actually get to see his face with the 3D view.
Encouraging verse for the day: Psalms 22:10 NIV
"From my birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God."
This echoes our thoughts that this child that God has given us in not really ours, but His. We are blessed to be picked as his earthly parents and know that God has great plans in store for our sweet little boy!
We're excited about this transition with mom and dad living with us - especially since mom has volunteered to help with the cooking! Also, it will be nice to have them around after Ethan's born. They'll be able to stay at the house and take care of it and the dog while we're staying in Chapel Hill (an hour away) with Ethan since he'll be hospitalized for at least a month after he's born, recovering from his first heart surgery.
Our next visit to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill is scheduled for Tuesday, July 10th. We'll be going for one final ultrasound, a regular check-up, and another tour of NICU and PICU. We're looking forward to get to see one more glimpse of our son before we meet him next month! We're praying he'll cooperate this time and not be so camera-shy so we can actually get to see his face with the 3D view.
Encouraging verse for the day: Psalms 22:10 NIV
"From my birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God."
This echoes our thoughts that this child that God has given us in not really ours, but His. We are blessed to be picked as his earthly parents and know that God has great plans in store for our sweet little boy!
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Dan Speaks -
I can't believe we are down to less than 6 weeks! I better start taking my vitamins : ) . The "Refer-A-Friend" and "Email Dan & Julie" parts of our main website work again now. Sorry it took me so long to fix the website. I had planned on recreating the site from scratch but have been so busy lately. Work has been nuts and I've been working on starting up a new business.
Julie's parents sold their townhouse. They are coming to live with us for a while until their new house in Wake Forest is ready. It will be nice to have them here. Mike got a Banjo for his Birthday and I play the guitar so that should be fun. We can sit out on the porch and play like a bunch of back woods mountain folk... just add shotguns. Maybe we could get Julie a jug. Would that count toward her breathing practice? Hopefully Gray-C, or "The Gray Dog" as she is more commonly called, will play nice with their cat, Emma.
One pretty major (for me anyway) project we hoped to accomplish prior to Ethan's Birthday was to put up a fence. Our neighboors will be glad to know our project has been approved. (I'm sure they are tired of all the wood and materials sitting in our driveway.) We'll be breaking ground this Saturday. Hopefully it breaks easy as there will be 16 posts requiring a 18-inch deep hole for each.
As time does draw nearer to the big day, I am surprised at what I am feeling - or more accurately what I am not feeling about becoming a father, about Ethan's heart condition. I am not anxious, I am not afraid. I just can't wait to see my new son! See what he looks like, see the color of his hair. What do I feel? I can tell you since the first week we found out about Ethan's condition, I feel prayed for. I can actually feel it sometimes. When I start to doubt or question, those thoughts are just swept away leaving in their place thoughts of God's faithfulness to me. God has proven He can take care of me. He has provided for me for 30 years. Why would He stop now? I know He won't. I often think of the verse where Jesus says to look at the birds of the field and how they do not worry about what they are going to eat tommorow. They do not store up food. God provide for the birds and I am much more important to God than a bird! Why should I worry? I like that story. It is simple. It is true.
Please keep praying for us. The only battle we have for today is that which goes on in our minds and souls. Sometimes my mind take me places that aren't good for my soul. It can be just as brutal as any physical battle. What delivers us from those battles is taking what we know of the character of God, and remembering His Truths. Pray that those things fill our minds so that there simply isn't any room left for the garbage. - Dan
Julie's parents sold their townhouse. They are coming to live with us for a while until their new house in Wake Forest is ready. It will be nice to have them here. Mike got a Banjo for his Birthday and I play the guitar so that should be fun. We can sit out on the porch and play like a bunch of back woods mountain folk... just add shotguns. Maybe we could get Julie a jug. Would that count toward her breathing practice? Hopefully Gray-C, or "The Gray Dog" as she is more commonly called, will play nice with their cat, Emma.
One pretty major (for me anyway) project we hoped to accomplish prior to Ethan's Birthday was to put up a fence. Our neighboors will be glad to know our project has been approved. (I'm sure they are tired of all the wood and materials sitting in our driveway.) We'll be breaking ground this Saturday. Hopefully it breaks easy as there will be 16 posts requiring a 18-inch deep hole for each.
As time does draw nearer to the big day, I am surprised at what I am feeling - or more accurately what I am not feeling about becoming a father, about Ethan's heart condition. I am not anxious, I am not afraid. I just can't wait to see my new son! See what he looks like, see the color of his hair. What do I feel? I can tell you since the first week we found out about Ethan's condition, I feel prayed for. I can actually feel it sometimes. When I start to doubt or question, those thoughts are just swept away leaving in their place thoughts of God's faithfulness to me. God has proven He can take care of me. He has provided for me for 30 years. Why would He stop now? I know He won't. I often think of the verse where Jesus says to look at the birds of the field and how they do not worry about what they are going to eat tommorow. They do not store up food. God provide for the birds and I am much more important to God than a bird! Why should I worry? I like that story. It is simple. It is true.
Please keep praying for us. The only battle we have for today is that which goes on in our minds and souls. Sometimes my mind take me places that aren't good for my soul. It can be just as brutal as any physical battle. What delivers us from those battles is taking what we know of the character of God, and remembering His Truths. Pray that those things fill our minds so that there simply isn't any room left for the garbage. - Dan
Monday, June 25, 2007
Visit to UNC
Today mom and I went for my regular visit with the OB clinic at UNC. We met with Dr. Kim Boggess and really liked her! She was very helpful and was able to answer a lot of general OB questions I'd been collecting since starting birthing classes earlier this month. Unfortunately, I failed my 1 hr. glucose test at last month's checkup so I've got to have a follow up 3 hr. glucose test on Friday. I will be able to have that done at Rex since it's a little closer than UNC, but I'm still not looking forward to it. It involves drinking a sugary orange carbonated beverage once an hour for three hours and at the end of each hour, having my blood drawn. This test is used to confirm whether or not I have gestational diabetes.
On a brighter note, it's such a relief to be treated like a "normal" pregnant person and to just be able to focus on the "normal" questions a first-time mom has with trying to understand the process of labor and delivery, without the equation of Ethan's heart problem. Dr. Boggess assured me that since nothing can be done to treat Ethan until after he's born, that I'd progress with labor and delivery like any other mother out there, no special treatment because of his heart problem. This means I can have pain meds :-) and a regular delivery without need for a C-Section (unless some other complication arises...unrelated to our son's heart defect).
After meeting with my OB, my care coordinator took us over to meet one of the cardio-thoracic (CT) heart surgeons - Dr. Robert Stewart. He and the other CT surgeon, Dr. Michael Mill will be tag-teaming Ethan's heart surgery. Both doctors are very skilled at what they do and they operate on at least a dozen HLHS babies a year! Our pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Cotton has done a great job at our previous 2 appointments at explaining the 3 heart surgeries, and today Dr. Stewart re-explained the procedures once again and answered a lot of our questions about what to expect post-op and also for years to come after all 3 surgeries are completed. Mom and I left UNC feeling a lot more confident about our hospital choice and about the whole situation overall. We are definitely thankful to be blessed to live in a day and age with so much technology and medical expertise to be able to help our sweet son live. It's hard to believe that treatment has only been around since 1980 for this congenital heart defect and we are very thankful that God has allowed our son to be in such good medical hands.
Now that we're well into our third trimester, it's time to start having more frequent checkups. We return on July 10th, where we'll talk about possibly induction for labor because Ethan's surgery needs to be timed to be 3-5 days after he's born and they want to make sure that he's born in time to have the surgery during a work week and not have to extend it a few days by having to wait through the weekend. That week, we'll also have one last ultrasound to check Ethan's growth once more before he arrives! Not long now until we get to meet Ethan at last!
On a brighter note, it's such a relief to be treated like a "normal" pregnant person and to just be able to focus on the "normal" questions a first-time mom has with trying to understand the process of labor and delivery, without the equation of Ethan's heart problem. Dr. Boggess assured me that since nothing can be done to treat Ethan until after he's born, that I'd progress with labor and delivery like any other mother out there, no special treatment because of his heart problem. This means I can have pain meds :-) and a regular delivery without need for a C-Section (unless some other complication arises...unrelated to our son's heart defect).
After meeting with my OB, my care coordinator took us over to meet one of the cardio-thoracic (CT) heart surgeons - Dr. Robert Stewart. He and the other CT surgeon, Dr. Michael Mill will be tag-teaming Ethan's heart surgery. Both doctors are very skilled at what they do and they operate on at least a dozen HLHS babies a year! Our pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Cotton has done a great job at our previous 2 appointments at explaining the 3 heart surgeries, and today Dr. Stewart re-explained the procedures once again and answered a lot of our questions about what to expect post-op and also for years to come after all 3 surgeries are completed. Mom and I left UNC feeling a lot more confident about our hospital choice and about the whole situation overall. We are definitely thankful to be blessed to live in a day and age with so much technology and medical expertise to be able to help our sweet son live. It's hard to believe that treatment has only been around since 1980 for this congenital heart defect and we are very thankful that God has allowed our son to be in such good medical hands.
Now that we're well into our third trimester, it's time to start having more frequent checkups. We return on July 10th, where we'll talk about possibly induction for labor because Ethan's surgery needs to be timed to be 3-5 days after he's born and they want to make sure that he's born in time to have the surgery during a work week and not have to extend it a few days by having to wait through the weekend. That week, we'll also have one last ultrasound to check Ethan's growth once more before he arrives! Not long now until we get to meet Ethan at last!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Baby Shower
Today my friends, Leah and Sarah through me a very beautiful and fun Storybook-themed baby shower! It was fun to see all the hard work they put into planning the food, decorations and games! Thank you ladies for all your hard work and for all the fun we had. Also thank you to everyone that made it to the shower and for all the great baby gear and gift cards we received! It was great to have a day to focus on the fun part of becoming parents, instead of the long road we know lies ahead as we trust God with our son's life during his surgery. Today helped me to forget about that for a few minutes and just enjoy all the cute, small clothes I'll get to one day dress Ethan in!
Thanks also for all the prayers and support we know we have as we face the challenges that lie ahead. It's comforting to know we'll be covered in prayer, 24/7 through labor, delivery and the surgery. What an awesome God we serve - to Him be all the glory forever and ever! We rest assured in knowing that God, our Abba Father, will be with us every step of the way. Lord, from the day he was conceived, we have committed Ethan to you. He is not ours, he's Yours and we thank You for the priviledge of getting to be his earthly guardians for as long as You let us!
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Prov. 3:5-6
Thanks also for all the prayers and support we know we have as we face the challenges that lie ahead. It's comforting to know we'll be covered in prayer, 24/7 through labor, delivery and the surgery. What an awesome God we serve - to Him be all the glory forever and ever! We rest assured in knowing that God, our Abba Father, will be with us every step of the way. Lord, from the day he was conceived, we have committed Ethan to you. He is not ours, he's Yours and we thank You for the priviledge of getting to be his earthly guardians for as long as You let us!
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Prov. 3:5-6
32 weeks and counting
Yesterday we went to see the pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Cotton for our second echocardiogram of our son's heart. Dr. Cotton confirmed that Ethan still has HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome) and spent over an hour and a half with us, being very thorough with his exam and explanation of what he was seeing on the echo, then in describing the series of 3 heart surgeries that our son will be having.
His first surgery is called the Norwood Procedure, and it will most likely occur when Ethan's about 3-5 days old. The surgery involves stitching the large pulmonary artery together with the small aorta, to make a new larger aorta. Then a small tube (shunt) is temporarily put in place to connect the artery going to the lungs with the new aorta. Then the wall that separates the top two heart chambers is removed (this is called an atrial septectomy), allowing blood to flow between the two atrium. The narrowing of the aorta is then opened and the connecting blood vessel is removed. As a result, this surgery helps the heart bypass the underdeveloped left ventricle, allowing the oxygenated blood to reach the body.
Even though we had heard all this detailed explanation from Dr. Cotton nearly 13 weeks ago, it was great to have him take his time with us and not make us feel rushed! We are thankful to have such a great doctor on our son's medical team and look forward to working with him for years to come!
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